Many highways throughout the United States include toll gates which require vehicle occupants to pay a toll in order to pass along a portion of the highway. Historically, tolls were paid by tendering money to a toll clerk. In time, however, toll machines have replaced some toll clerks which can receive coins, count them, and permit vehicles to pass without interacting with a human. In more recent times, toll gates have been equipped with an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology that permits cars to be automatically charged a toll through wireless interaction with a transponder mounted in each vehicle. An account associated with the transponder is debited each time that the vehicle passes through a toll gate equipped with this technology.
With the advent of such automated toll systems, vehicles can more rapidly pass through toll gates, and automobile congestion and pollution in and around toll gates has been greatly reduced.
The transponders are located in each car so as to have unobstructed radio transmission from the car and to transceivers located at the toll booth. Typically, transponders are mounted to the interior of the car windshield so as to have clear radio communication with the transceivers. The transponders applicable throughout the United States vary in size, dimension, and technology; however, common to all existing automated transponder systems is the fact that these transponders are included in the vehicle as an after-market addition. As such, the transponders rarely coordinate with the interior of the vehicle, an undesirable feature for many drivers including those of luxury vehicles.
What is needed in the art is improvements in transponder mountings, including specifically aesthetically pleasing covers for transponders, and the present invention satisfies this need and can prompt further interest in State/Government sponsored ETC programs.